This is a wonderful city. While I am excited to see Basel, I am quite sad to leave Lausanne. I think that, throughout all of the places I have visited outside the US in my life, the only two cities so far in which I would truly want to live are Amsterdam and Lausanne. Lake Geneva and the Alps are simply gorgeous. The first night I was here, my host cooked dinner for me and afterwards we went out for a beer at a local brewpub. I had a great ginger beer there, and we talked about her research in psychology and my studies in religion and history. The next day, I rented a bike (!) and cycled and hiked up in the mountains to the East through...wait for it....vineyards! They were beautiful. I actually got lost for quite a while (I think I biked/hiked a total of about 15 km?), but I really didn´t mind in that beautiful setting, amidst the vineyards looking out over the vines onto small Swiss towns, the lake and France and the French Alps on the other side. I stopped at a couple of wineries and tasted and bought their wine. Here they grow a grape called Chasselas that is native to here. It is a semi-dry to dry wine with a decent body and fairly prominent acidity. I really liked it. It comprises something like 75% of all the wine made here, with Pinot Noir a distant second at like 12%. Then, I met up with two other couchsurfers (one from Deutshchland/California and the other from right here in Lausanne) and we went to a park, then I went home for a quiet night in by myself. I decided to spend a third night in Lausanne, changing my plans, and my host graciously welcomed me for a third night without a second thought. Her name is Ute and she actually grew up in the DDR in Dresden, and the wall fell when she was about 8 or 9 I think. She was fantastic. Not only did she cook for me the first night, but the third night, when the plans I had made with the other two couchsurfers fell through, the only one who followed through accompanied me to Ute´s apartment and she cooked for both of us! We shared a couple of bottles of wine and talked late into the night over Swiss Pinot Noir and cigarettes. Quite a great visit. I am sad to leave this great place, and this great host. If ever anyone who reads this goes to Switzerland, visit Lausanne.
Also, join couchsurfing! I have only great things to report, almost halfway through my trip.
See you in Basel oder Deutschland!
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